Chicago

Cubs

The report from North Side Baseball’s Matthew Trueblood here is extra interesting, because it suggests the Cubs are looking for just one more reliever on a major league contract. If that’s the case, one would think they should try to do much better than the 34-year-old Stanek, who has finished with ERAs of 4.09, 4.88 and 5.30 while pitching for contenders the last three seasons. That said, his stuff numbers are still very good, and the Cubs might think they have a fix for him.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports the Cubs and Gallen do not have a deal and are not close to finalizing one. The 30-year-old righty makes a ton of sense for Chicago on the heels of a disappointing final season with the Diamondbacks where he recorded a 4.83 ERA (4.50 FIP), 1.26 WHIP and 175/66 K/BB ratio across 192 innings over 33 starts. He’s fallen from the ranks of the upper-echelon fantasy starter class but remains a durable workhorse, making at least 28 starts in each of the last four seasons. He would represent a quality mid-rotation stabilizer for the Cubs to complement rookie Cade Horton veterans Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Colin Rea.

Feinsand specifically notes those three clubs as the biggest threats to sign the 30-year-old left-hander away from the Phillies. He also mentions the Tigers and Mets as teams that have shown interest. With multiple large market teams in the bidding, it sounds like Suárez should do pretty well for himself here on the open market.

Zeglin missed all of last season due to injury after posting a 0.95 ERA and 90/16 K/BB ratio across 66 innings over 25 appearances between Low-A Myrtle Beach and High-A South Bend. The 25-year-old reliever is a textbook definition of a lottery ticket arm. Meanwhile, the Cubs receive $250,000 in international bonus money to close out the rest of the signing period.

Sharma and Mooney add that the Cubs are bracing for Kyle Tucker’s expected departure in free agency and are prepared to give top prospects Owen Caissie and Moises Ballesteros extended runway in the majors. Still, they’re not closing the door on a potential position-player addition. Chicago reportedly made a legitimate push for Bregman last spring before he ultimately landed in Boston. The 31-year-old defensive stalwart produced a robust .273/.360/.462 triple-slash line with 18 homers and 62 RBI across 114 games. His 44.4 percent hard-hit rate was the best of his career. The production, however, came in two distinct acts: Bregman hit .298 with 11 homers in 53 games before a serious quad injury, then managed just a .250 average and seven homers in 61 contests after the All-Star break. His arrival would squeeze former top prospect Matt Shaw off third base and into a likely multi-position utility role.

This probably doesn’t thrill the Cubs, given Boyd’s injury history, but since he did put in a full season last year, there’s nothing the team can do about it. Boyd went 14-8 with a 3.21 ERA and made his first All-Star team in his first season in Chicago.

Kingery heads to the Windy City where he’ll compete for a bench role as a versatile utility specialist in spring training. The 31-year-old former top prospect hit .148 (4-for-27) across 19 games with the Angels this past season. It would be an understatement to call his career trajectory underwhelming considering he inked a six-year extension with the Phillies back in 2018 before ever playing in the majors.

At this point, it feels like Kyle Tucker is a long shot to return to the Cubs, so the team will likely replace him by “reallocating resources to different parts of the roster.” Mooney suggests that Seiya Suzuki will play more right field, and the Cubs will use much of the extra money to bolster their rotation, which means young hitters Owen Caissie and Moisés Ballesteros will get a chance “to develop and improve at the major-league level.” As of now, Caissie, a top 100 prospect, appears to have the upper hand after putting together an .887 OPS in Triple-A over the last two seasons. He has more defensive value than Ballesteros, who is more of a DH right now than a 1B/C, but this may come down to a spring training battle between the two.

Jon Heyman reported earlier today that Maton is guaranteed $14.5 million. The 32-year-old posted a career-best 2.79 ERA while throwing 60-plus innings for a fifth straight season in 2025. Also important was that his velocity crept back up; his 90.4 mph average on his fastball is well below average, but it’s two mph better than where he was in 2024. He’ll probably work as a setup man in the Cubs pen.

He could make an additional $500,000 in incentives over the two seasons. Maton will probably wind up as a setup man in Chicago, though that’s still to be determined. As of right now, it’d presumably be he and Daniel Palencia for the eighth and ninth, but the team still could bring a big-name closer.